Restaurant Remix: Applebee's Maple Butter Blondie

This is going to sound incredibly small-town, but... back in the day (read: high school) Applebee's was the place to be. I mean, let's be realistic, I lived in Alabama... not a whole lot to do around there. Your options were the mall or the movies, and before doing either, you'd usually go out to eat. Unless you were eating Mexican food, you were generally at Applebee's... you know, the Applebee's right in front of the Wal-Mart. It's the Alabama resident's place to see and be seen...

Anywho, I think I've spent enough time reliving my small-town misery desperation history. Back to the food.

I spent my time at Applebee's consuming far too many chicken quesadillas for a normal, functioning, human being to be okay with (whatever, they're good). After I drowned my sorrows in melted cheese and guacamole polished off my quesadilla, if I was feeling frisky, I'd split a dessert with whomever my dining partner du jour happened to be. It was here that I discovered the Maple Butter Blondie. It was like the Dream Weaver sequence from Wayne's World. Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about.

Yeah, exactly like that.

Now... back to reality. Here's the recipe! Make it, you must.

{click to enlarge}

First, gather your dough ingredients and preheat your oven to 350. Sift together flour, baking powder and baking soda. Once sifted, mix in your salt and walnuts and set aside.

In a microwave safe bowl, melt your butter. Add brown sugar to melted butter and combine.

Add the brown sugar mixture to the flour, along with your egg, milk, and vanilla extract. Stir, stir, stir. Warning: batter will be freaking thick. Once combined, stir in white chocolate chips.

Spread the mixture in a well greased  8"x8" pan. Instead of greasing the pan, I lined it so it would be easier to remove. Totally optional. Tip: Wet the back of your spoon with water in order to spread the batter, or else it will stick to the spoon like crazy. Pop the batter in the oven for 25 minutes. While it's baking, make your sauce!

{click to enlarge}

In a sauce pan, add butter to your maple syrup, and cook on medium-low heat until butter is melted and combined. Remove to a bowl. I forgot to take a photo of the next step, but in the same pan, add cream cheese and stir until melted.  Once melted, stir in your syrup/butter mixture.

Add a pinch or two of salt and try to maintain your self control. Feel free to add a little milk to thin out the sauce if you so desire. Or not. Your choice.

Remove your crazy delicious blondie from the oven and let sit for 5-7 minutes. That way when you serve it, it's still warm, but not piping hot and falling apart.

Cut into 6 squares and serve with vanilla ice cream, a river drizzle of maple butter sauce, and a sprinkling of walnuts.

I apologize to your waistline in advance.

Enjoy!